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- Sep 6, 2011
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I know this is a very personal decision and depends on a wide variety of factors, but I wanted to present some information about my boy to see what you all thought. I think it says something that I'm even asking this question, but I'd like to get some outside perspective. I think it's sometimes difficult to make decisions when you're so close to a situation and have seen it evolve.
- My cat is 19 years old.
- On June 21, he was diagnosed with an abdominal mass. His intestines had been pushed down a bit by the mass.
- He has been alright with Prednisone, an antacid and Fortiflora every 12 hours. He also gets 100 subq fluids every other day.
- He does not often eat an entire meal. He is interested in food probably 80 percent of the time. The rest of the time, I try different combinations and that works somewhat well. Despite his interest, I usually end up wasting half the meal. He laps his food up instead of biting it.
- He has terrible teeth and arthritis in his legs, hips and back. He can get around and even goes down the stairs by himself if I'm not there to help, but he is in obvious pain when walking. He bobbles up and down, and groans a bit when he lays down.
- Most days, he sleeps in one of two dark, cozy areas we've set up for him. He will occasionally move from place to place, but this is usually when he wants water, food or has to use the litter box.
- He does enjoy going outside still. It depends on whether he's having a good day, but he loves to lay out in the heat for hours upon hours.
- He has not had a significant bowel movement since Saturday. He did pass a smaller stool yesterday, but mostly tries to go and only gets a small amount of liquid out. I have tried giving him a small amount of Lactulose to help, but he hasn't gone to the litter box since getting that.
- Since diagnosis, he has gone from 19 pounds to 14.5.
If this were your cat, would you put him down?
- My cat is 19 years old.
- On June 21, he was diagnosed with an abdominal mass. His intestines had been pushed down a bit by the mass.
- He has been alright with Prednisone, an antacid and Fortiflora every 12 hours. He also gets 100 subq fluids every other day.
- He does not often eat an entire meal. He is interested in food probably 80 percent of the time. The rest of the time, I try different combinations and that works somewhat well. Despite his interest, I usually end up wasting half the meal. He laps his food up instead of biting it.
- He has terrible teeth and arthritis in his legs, hips and back. He can get around and even goes down the stairs by himself if I'm not there to help, but he is in obvious pain when walking. He bobbles up and down, and groans a bit when he lays down.
- Most days, he sleeps in one of two dark, cozy areas we've set up for him. He will occasionally move from place to place, but this is usually when he wants water, food or has to use the litter box.
- He does enjoy going outside still. It depends on whether he's having a good day, but he loves to lay out in the heat for hours upon hours.
- He has not had a significant bowel movement since Saturday. He did pass a smaller stool yesterday, but mostly tries to go and only gets a small amount of liquid out. I have tried giving him a small amount of Lactulose to help, but he hasn't gone to the litter box since getting that.
- Since diagnosis, he has gone from 19 pounds to 14.5.
If this were your cat, would you put him down?